Strive and Succeed; or, The Progress of Walter Conrad — Context and Discussion

The Teacher's Journey and the Carpetbag

The opening chapter establishes Walter Conrad as a “stout, gentlemanly-looking boy” who appears older than sixteen. His sole possession is a large carpetbag containing all his clothing. The setting is a Wisconsin railroad, and the first spoken line is a question to the conductor: “Are we near Benton?” This direct, action-oriented beginning aligns with the catalog subject of teachers and the Bildungsroman theme, but the excerpts provide no details about Walter's teaching methods or the school itself. The narrative focus is on travel and arrival, not instruction. Alger's preface acknowledges that Walter's youth might make his success seem improbable, but the excerpts do not yet show any teaching or success—only the journey. Readers should note that the catalog subject “Teachers” is thus far a promise, not a demonstrated element.

Joshua Drummond's Flight and the Father's Pursuit

The extended excerpt shifts to Joshua Drummond's father searching for his son in New York City. Mr. Drummond is “deeply incensed” and wishes to “inflict private punishment.” He worries Joshua will squander or lose the stolen money, reflecting a “contemptuous opinion of Joshua's shrewdness.” The father's search is methodical: he goes to Lovejoy's Hotel out of habit, then seeks out Sam Crawford at a shoe store. Sam, however, decides not to betray Joshua, not from loyalty but because he wants to help spend the money. This subplot introduces themes of deception and self-interest, contrasting with Walter's apparent integrity. The catalog subjects of “runaway teenagers” and “loyalty” are directly engaged, though loyalty is shown in its absence—Sam's betrayal of trust for personal gain. The father offers a dollar reward for information, a detail that underscores the transactional nature of relationships in this world.

Money, Morality, and the Serial Origin

Throughout the excerpts, money is a constant preoccupation. Joshua steals “several hundred dollars”; his father agonizes over its potential loss; Sam hopes to help spend it. The preface notes the book was first serialized in Young Israel, a juvenile magazine, which may explain the episodic structure and the clear moral stated in the title. The catalog subject “Success—Juvenile fiction” is explicitly addressed in the preface's claim that the moral is “contained in the title.” However, the excerpts do not depict any success yet—only striving, in the form of travel, pursuit, and evasion. The word “progress” in the subtitle remains aspirational. Readers should be aware that the catalog subjects are heavily weighted toward moral instruction, but the narrative energy in these excerpts comes from suspense and practical concerns (money, location, deception) rather than didacticism.

Readers approaching Strive and Succeed should note the gap between the catalog's moral categories and the excerpts' concrete details: the book is less about teaching than about travel, money, and evasion. The parallel plots—Walter's westward journey and Joshua's eastward flight—are not yet connected in the excerpts. Alger's preface frames the story as a demonstration of self-reliance, but the evidence suggests that luck and deception may play as large a role as effort. Pay attention to how the narrative balances the two protagonists and whether Walter's teaching actually appears in later chapters.

Reading about Walter’s patient, almost grim pursuit of a salary in Wisconsin, I remembered a summer I spent tutoring, counting every dollar. There was a strange comfort in that arithmetic. Years later, Marcus; or, The Boy-Tamer — Story, Setting & Ideas gave me the same quiet ache—that tender, stubborn belief that shaping another boy’s life might somehow shape your own, even when the money never feels like enough.